Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-07

passes. But If Ye do not forgive neither
will your Father which is in heaven for
give your tEespasses." This l8ngusee is
unequivocsl. Does i seem uDius. 70 for
give an offender who has not repepted:
It is not unjust. Il is only leaving the
1GHtter OF judgment to God, TO whom it
belongs, with the full assurance that He
will ildge the offender with righteous
alignment
The question naturally arises acre, how
then is one to defend himself agairsc in
position? Are We not TO exercise any
resentment: We answer nc, not in I'M
kindness. Whatever We may do
or say OF Cna OF 20 enc who
has Offended as We should
rot 90 or say anything in suger Or IN
kindness,
Jesus says: 'Resist net evil" Matt,
H., 20. Il IS not right 70 even talk over
Ia uIkindness 3 difference tina. may eX-
ist between you eld another.
On the other hand, there IS mucl re-
sentiment which 1t is lawful 20 offer, pro-
vided it be offered il kindness. Turn to
Matt. xviii. l5-l7, and read "If thy
( brother ahall Irospass egain5l thee, 90
ard tell him his fault between thee and
him alone. II he shall hear thee, thou
hast gained thy brother. Bu: II he will
Got hear thee, then take Wilh thee CIe or
two more, mat in the mouth of two or
three witnesses, every word my be es-
! tablished. And il he shall neglect to
hear them, tell il INTO the church; but if
/ he neglect 10 hear the church, let him
be unto thee as hea:hen man ard q pub
! lican."
u order to get the import OF the latter
part Of this quotation, It is neces-
sary TO ascertain the mind CT the
Jews towards heathens and pUblicGns,
This is easily explained. The Jews were
at this period sublec 10 Roman rule. The
tsX collectors under the R0msn govern
ment were called publicans. The Jews
/ thought il wss wrong fer them to paw tax
! to the Rom8n5. Hence they considered
the JeX collectors, or pUbIiCara, who
/ forced collections, rOb0ers. As such, OF
! course, they could not have any conf
dence in them, nor respect for them. You
cannot have confidence in 3 rObDer;
neither can you respect one IL whom you
have no confidence. Again, the Jews
c!assed gil who were not Jews or pros
eIyte Jews together, and they were known
as heathens, gentilas or sinners. Their
contempt for these was so crest that they
/ repTo2ched Jesus even for being SIS friend
OF puDIICGns snt sinners" Luke, vii, 81.
| Now the Jews were SO disposed to-
wards pu5lcsns snd sinners be-
cause they considered them to be
/ tre6cherOus, dishonest. So the Christian
IS 20 regard the actual trespasSar who
Will not need the TepTOOf of the church
even. Now let US consider more infinitely
/ the course 10 be pursued. II thy brother
trcspass against thee, 90 and tell him Of
II, and il may be that he will freely &C
knowledge the fact ard repent. On the
other hand, he may neither acknowledge
nor repent. Or he may acknowledge the
deed, but contend thay he believes it YVES
e right deed, not 8 tTespass Then the
question becomes difference Of opinion
bet Reen the TWO. The next thing TO be
done is to call in one or two witnesses
ard talk oyer the matterin their presence,
letting them hear both sides. II the wit
nesseS IN their Judgment agree with the
offending party, the offended should
yield. Ii they agree with the offended
party, the offender should yield. If he
Will not, then the matter should be taken
TO the church. Now when
the church expresses her opinion
Of agreement with either party, the
other should cheerfully yield. We think
it possible that an honest, conscientious
man, even after the matter had been
thus passed on by the church, might still
believe he was Innocent, and, so believ-
ing, ne could not conscientiously &C
knowledge that he was guilty; but he
would say that while he believed he was
innocent, yet, for the sake of the church,
he would ask the brothers. pardon on the
basis of the church's judgment, and
would refrain from repetition of the act,
on Psul's principle, "It meat make my
broth TO offend, will eat no flesh while |
the world standeth, lest / make my
brother to offend III Cor, yiii, Is
Every man of sound mind admits the |
fallibility OF men, and every man Of fair |
mind admits that ne is Just as liable to |
be in error es eny other man. 50 when |
one is brought before the church in the
manner Indicated and still insists that
he is guiltless, in the face of the
contrary opinion held by the church, and
will make no sort OF concession for the
sake of his brother and the church, we are
TO conclude that there is something
wrong with the man, that he is not sin
Cere Clristinn man. So then we are to re-
gard him Gas 8 heather man and publ.
can" We are to separate ourselves
nun NM TIC HIS SHOWN himself III
worthy of confidence. He is treacherous.
Therefore we are afraid of him.
Not afraid OF him in tie
sense OF cowardice, bus afraid Of
being contaminated or lea into evil by
him. We separate ourselves from him
for self preservation.
You ask, does not that prove the incor-
RICHNESS OF the proposition that we must
forgive uncoIditionally We answer, il
does not by any means. We DO not
cast off such person as s punishment to
him, but for our own safety. II is not ,
our province TO punish. Vengeance be
longs to God. He is our enemy,
il is true, but we are to love
our enemies: love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to
hem that hate you, and pray for them
that despiteiully use you and persecute
you" Matt. Wa. We are to love them
IS creatures Of God. We are to love them
Is brethren according to the flesh. We
Ire to love them as sinners for whom
Christ died and pray for them that they
nay be reached by the gospel and may be
made thereby worthy of confidence and 8
esteem. We should not entertain any
hatred towards them. We can not love s
hem and pray for them until we have r
orgiven them. 8
To refuse to make reconciliation when .